The Percolated Pot: An Instruction Manual For Decent Coffee
I hereby condescend to show you the way to a decent pot of coffee, to give you confidence and consistency in your caffeine efforts.
Category: Culture
Analyzing The 2023 Oscars’ Best Picture Race
We can see who has the best chance or who should probably just be happy to be nominated for Best Picture. Keep these 16 key trends in mind.
Sunday Morning! “Katalin Street” by Magda Szabó
Magda Szabó published Katalin Street 20 years before The Door, and 10 years after being rehabilitated as a former “enemy of the state.”
Saturday Morning Gaming: Hogwarts Legacy Initial Impressions
Hogwarts Legacy is amazing. It’s like running around a museum. One of the great European Museums before they put everything behind glass.
POETS Day! William Carlos Williams
I’m sure that William Carlos Williams wanted to have a discussion with mom and dad. “You named me William Williams?” he would ask, not without cause,
The Month in Theaters January 2023
For January, I managed to see 11 movies in theaters, with one repeat, along with 43 movies otherwise, with three repeats, for a total of 50 reviews.
Weekend Plans Post: The Belated Birthday Party
One of my buddies turned 40 four or five months ago. We’re celebrating this weekend.
Mac & Cheese That’s Only Comparatively Time Consuming to Make
Thomas Jefferson had a pasta machine sent from Naples to Monticello for mac & cheese. Now buy a blue box, boil some water, and stir. It’s easy
Hogwarts Legacy: The-Game-That-Must-Not-Be-Named
“Read another book!” has evolved into “Play another game!” This seems to indicate that Hogwarts Legacy will have legs.
Charity, Clout, and Moral Outrage: On MrBeast and Seeing
the world and our systems aren’t as good as they ought to be but being upset at MrBeast for actually doing something is actively bad.
Saturday Morning Gaming: Dead Space Remake Review
Dead Space is a game set up in chapter form. Each chapter could well be named “NOW WHAT?”
POETS Day! George Gordon, Lord Byron
Nobody writes Lord Byron and means his dad John. George won, so barring some immortal act by a future Lord Byron we should all agree that without clarification the title refers to him.
Spicy Pineapple Collard Greens and The Great Vowel Shift
My home version of a tonier restaurant’s Spicy Pineapple Collard Greens. It seems off the wall, and it is, but I think you’ll love it.
I’m Not a Midwesterner; No One Is
Words have to mean something, and “Midwesterner” just doesn’t have enough of a single meaning to be of any use as a word.
The Boundaries and Conduits of Writing and Publishing
The human condition includes the need to be heard, and for many of us who can type, writing is one channel to speak that need.
Sunday Morning! “Chéri” and “La Fin de Chéri” by Colette
This seems to be how Colette wrote her masterpiece novellas: Chéri and The End of Chéri: she had these two characters in mind
Outrage: To Love “A Good Hate”
In these circumstances, outrage sells even better, and it seems to be a race to the bottom in terms of stoking public anger.
Saturday Morning Gaming: On Silent Protagonists
In the Dead Space remake, Isaac is no longer a silent protagonist.
I don’t see this as an improvement, really.
POETS Day! Elizabeth Bishop
Today’s featured poem is “The Map” by Elizabeth Bishop. Bishop is yet another poet who rankled mid-last-century at being included among those known as The Confessional Poets.
